


Morning glory

by Applesith



Category: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, But Is He Really?, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kylo says he's sleeping with other women, Rey says she doesn't care, and hug, but is she really?, they need to talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 06:37:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13048530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesith/pseuds/Applesith
Summary: A few months after being separated on Crait, Rey and Ben are still learning to deal with the consequence of their choice.---A ficlet about a Force Bond and lonely hearts, dedicated to Punkeraa.





	Morning glory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [punkeraa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkeraa/gifts).



> The Last Jedi was everything and more than my small shipper heart could endure. I hope you'll enjoy this little something!

The first ray of morning light seeped through the cracks in the stones. The fire in the hearth had died during the night, leaving only dark ashes in the pit. A teasing finger trailed along her spine, giving her shivers. Rey wasn’t cold though. “I don’t want to wake up,” she heard herself say, notes of sleepiness laced in her voice.

“It’s still early. You don’t have to,” Kylo Ren whispered, his voice resonating deep inside her as his hand continued its slow exploration of the map of her skin.

“What are you doing here?” Rey asked.

“You know what I came for,” he replied, too eagerly for her taste. His hand suddenly trailed south to squeeze playfully at her buttcheeks.

“Go away,” she responded with a lack of resolve. “I need more sleep.”

“You don’t really want me to leave, Rey. You know it. I know it. Stop playing pretend,” Kylo retorted, using that imperious tone of someone who is getting used to giving orders.

“Don’t you have one of your whores to pester instead of me?” Rey replied curtly. “That Twi’lek who threw herself at your feet the other day will do,” she added, against her better judgement. She wasn’t jealous, not at all; she was just tired of his games.

She closed her eyes, trying to shut down their connection as if it was as simple as pulling down a blind to shield yourself from a light too bright. But loneliness gnawed at her bones this morning, the same way it consumed Ben’s heart, so she didn’t pull too hard. The threat of ending the conversation did wonders anyhow; his end of the bond became docile.

After a few seconds of silence, Kylo tried to change the subject. “Did I give you this one?” He enquired while the pad of his index finger smoothed along the slightly raised surface of a pink scar that ran from her ribcage to her hip.

“No. The only thing you ever gave me are headaches,” Rey replied curtly, pushing his hand away to sit up at the edge of the bed. She didn’t need that kind of scene today. She had high-priority projects to work on, “ambassadors” to dispatch, weapons to smuggle.

The Resistance was in bad shape and needed her full attention. Although, nobody could ignore that the focus of their battles had changed since the demise of Snoke; nowadays, lacking a base of operation worthy of the name as well as wealthy allies to finance their cause, commodities such as food, clothing and fuel were more important to acquire than bombs. But they were rebuilding, slowly, but surely. Hope lingered. Every day, new reports came in from all sectors of the galaxy, of civilians rallying to their cause, of slaves rebelling against their masters, of riots erupting in mining colonies where workers demanded fairer wages and cleaner water.

Why the First Order had halted their hunt for pockets of Resistance fighters, she wasn’t sure. On the one hand, the Resistance was good at remaining elusive, but on the other hand, with so much power at his disposal, it would be easy for Kylo Ren to flush his opponents out and crush them like ants once and for all. She supposed it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart that he chose to concentrate on other matters; after all, they’d promised one another that the next time they met in person would be the last. Or maybe this was precisely why he was reluctant to conduct serious investigations.

No, she suspected his motivation was fueled by something else, that he was too busy trying to secure his power, fighting snakes and weasels within the First Order. That and fucking some harlots in an attempt to hurt her feelings.

Once, not long after she’d tentatively tugged at the fabric of his mind after long weeks of solitude, he’d claimed he’d never been with any woman before and begged her to join his side. In return, she'd implored him to follow his heart instead of embracing a destiny that others had carved for him. They'd cried, then kissed, then became tangled, even more, in fragile silky threads neither could unravel. At dawn, they'd fought, and since then he'd made every attempt to get under her skin using other women's bodies. But she didn’t care. Why would she?

Kylo reached out to caress the small of her back. “Why are you so stubborn?” He sighed.

“For the same reasons you are,” she responded. Once more, she sounded annoyed, and she wasn’t even sure why.

“Fine. Do what you please!” he said, flippantly. “Go on with your boring day, lifting rocks to impress filthy, needy children. If you think your circus tricks will make people believe in the Jedi once more, you’re wrong. People need stability, food, strong leadership, not sanctimonious monks who can’t even respect their vows." His jaw tightened. "Your friends would be interested in hearing the true reason why you moan my name in your sleep. Poor little Rey who has so many nightmares lately.”

The remark hit as hard as a blaster shot to the heart.

Rey pivoted to shoot him an angry look. He pursed his lips childishly, and her heart betrayed her once more. No matter how much she tried, that treacherous double-edged blade cut deep inside her gut. “Still better to amuse kids with my tricks than killing their parents and brainwashing them to join your army,” she erupted, unwilling to concede.

Kylo Ren scoffed. “The war is over thanks to me! Accept it. I have no need for children,” he continued, pursing his lips into an aristocratic expression, the way he always did when he believed in the truth of his words. “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I should stop coming to you, you puffer-pigheaded wide-eyed witch!”

“Oh,” she shrugged, “as if you were able to stop yourself, Mister mighty Supreme Leader who sits on a throne of lies! Did you tell 'Hugs' you’re the one who sliced up Snoke? No doubt that the money of the bounty they put on my head would feed many of these children you seem to care so much about.”

A spark flared at his end of the connection, and he remained silent for a few seconds. “Why are we still playing this game?” he then asked in earnest. "Why do we  always end up arguing?" Suddenly, gone was the petulance, replaced by that sharp pain called longing that Rey knew all too well.

“Ben,” she said, closing the distance between them. Her hand came to cover his as intimately as that first night when a brush had set their worlds aflame, two trembling souls in search of companionship, who had a glimpse of a future that now looked unreachable. Their fingers intertwined. “You know why,” she responded calmly.

“Because we can only be ourselves when we’re together,” he said in a murmur as if her thoughts flowed out of his mouth. “When we're together, we don’t have to lie or hide or be afraid.”

He sat next to her to wrap his arms around her, and she didn’t fight it. She never fought it. In a gentle, tender gesture he cradled her head against his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head. She shut her eyes to listen to the faint echo of their matching hearts.

_ “Ben, stay with me. Just a little more.” _

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm hungry for validation so feel free to drop me a note or two.  
> (( Please, love me ༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ ))


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